House sales suspended???

barry1234

We are meant to be completing our sale on the 31st March but have just recieved this from our solicitor..

Good Afternoon,

 

The situation is I am afraid changing hourly in respect of the shutdown due to the coronavirus.

 

Registers of Scotland have taken the decision to suspend the registration of deeds.  This includes dispositions, standard securities and discharges of standard securities. This means that we are unable to register sale and purchase deeds.  This in turn means that we are unable to comply with Funder conditions in respect of borrowing.

 

The Law Society of Scotland and the Registers of Scotland have recommended that solicitors should not settle conveyancing transactions.  Both these government bodies are meeting on Friday to try and find a solution to the current suspension but it is likely to be into next week before there will be any further update on this.

 

Regrettably it therefore looks very unlikely that we will be able to complete your scheduled transaction this week. Where we are in receipt of loan funds already from your lender our obligation is to return these funds immediately.

 

It is, I appreciate, no consolation at all but every purchaser and seller in Scotland will be in the same position.

 

We are in unchartered territory as to what this means, the situation is quite simply unprecedented.  As soon as we have further updates we will be in contact with you. 

 

Kind regards

I guess bum just looking for confirmation that this is the case as can find nothing online relating to it?

 

MoneySeeker1

Have you checked out the position in the rest of the country?

Second thought - have you had Exchange of Contracts (bearing in mind some people leave very short gaps between Exchange and Completion)?

Scottishgal19

 

The situation is I am afraid changing hourly in respect of the shutdown due to the coronavirus.

 

Registers of Scotland have taken the decision to suspend the registration of deeds.  This includes dispositions, standard securities and discharges of standard securities. This means that we are unable to register sale and purchase deeds.  This in turn means that we are unable to comply with Funder conditions in respect of borrowing.

 

The Law Society of Scotland and the Registers of Scotland have recommended that solicitors should not settle conveyancing transactions.  Both these government bodies are meeting on Friday to try and find a solution to the current suspension but it is likely to be into next week before there will be any further update on this.

 

Regrettably it therefore looks very unlikely that we will be able to complete your scheduled transaction this week. Where we are in receipt of loan funds already from your lender our obligation is to return these funds immediately.

 

It is, I appreciate, no consolation at all but every purchaser and seller in Scotland will be in the same position

We got a similar email today from our solicitor and everything on hold. Our missives are still open as we were hoping to move in 6 weeks time. 

ger1986

From RoS website:

Following last night’s announcement by the Prime Minister and First Minister, Registers of Scotland (RoS) has taken the decision to close Meadowbank House, in Edinburgh and St Vincent Plaza, Glasgow today.

As a consequence, the application record has been suspended until further notice as we will be unable to process any paper applications after today.

All applications received today 24 March will be taken into the application record.

This decision has not been taken lightly but our priority is to safeguard the health and wellbeing of our colleagues and the wider community by following the latest Government advice.

We are working on a digital solution that will enable us to allow digital applications to be submitted.

Our ability to implement an effective digital solution is critically dependent on not having any pending paper applications that we have not been able to process.

It is therefore absolutely essential that you do not send any applications by mail to RoS.

Applications that can be submitted digitally will continue to be processed.

We understand that this is a very challenging time for all of you, your businesses and your families. Rest assured, RoS is working extremely hard to support you and the economy of Scotland.

We will be posting regular updates on our website and social media channels.

We will provide a firm update on our progress with enabling a digital solution, and next steps, on Friday 27 March.

At this stage we cannot commit to when the application record will reopen but we will be able to provide a further update on this as part of Friday’s update.

In the meantime, if you have any questions about how the ongoing situation is affecting RoS services please contact customer.services@ros.gov.uk, freephone 0800 169 9391, textphone: 0131 528 3836 or email: covid19enquiries@ros.gov.uk.

Depending on the volume of emails we may not be able to respond personally to your query, but please be assured that we will use the questions arising to update the guidance and information on our website as regularly as we can.

greatcrested

MoneySeeker1 said:

Have you checked out the position in the rest of the country?

Second thought - have you had Exchange of Contracts (bearing in mind some people leave very short gaps between Exchange and Completion)?

OP is clearly in Scotland. No such thing as Exchange........

barry1234

So where they say “ Applications that can be submitted digitally will continue to be processed.” Is that not how most are processed now anyway?

are all house sales now on hold for the foreseeable future in Scotland?

Scottishgal19

I checked the FB page and think they said they will be setting up digital applications. When this will happen it didn’t say.

davidmcn

barry1234 said:

I guess bum just looking for confirmation that this is the case as can find nothing online relating to it?

Yes, I posted about it earlier:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6118849/registers-of-scotland-partial-shutdown

barry1234 said:

So where they say “ Applications that can be submitted digitally will continue to be processed.” Is that not how most are processed now anyway?

are all house sales now on hold for the foreseeable future in Scotland?

No, the vast majority are paper deeds submitted to the Land Register - yes they end up being processed digitally, but the registers won't have anybody at the offices to handle them after today. Online applications can only be made for the most straightforward types of transaction (not first registrations, transfers of part, or anything with new title conditions), and uptake by solicitors has been pretty slow because of the complications involved.

The Law Society has told everybody to down tools until there is further clarification, as we're in uncharted waters now.

barry1234

Maybe need to make a new post instead of adding to my old one but,

We have heard nothing from our solicitor since lock-down began and there office is still closed, we have heard of other people that have bought and moved into new properties during lock-down. Can anybody confirm if house sales are now going through in Scotland? Is it "normal" to of heard absolutely zero from out solicitor since beginning of lock-down when our house was sold, with an agreed move in date of March 31st

purple_ck

that sounds really odd not to have heard anything since lockdown. I was supposed to move during lockdown but it's not going ahead anymore because we pulled out the sale for a few reasons. 

My solicitors called me the week before lockdown to organise a meeting (which was actually supposed to be the day it was announced) they called me that day to rearrange. They were still working from home so it seems strange that you haven't heard. 

My friend was meant to move in April but it got delayed till May, their papers were dealt with digitally. 

Have you tried calling/emailing them to give you an update? it seems very rude on their part 

davidmcn

barry1234 said:

We have heard nothing from our solicitor since lock-down began and there office is still closed, we have heard of other people that have bought and moved into new properties during lock-down. Can anybody confirm if house sales are now going through in Scotland? Is it "normal" to of heard absolutely zero from out solicitor since beginning of lock-down when our house was sold, with an agreed move in date of March 31st

I'd hope your solicitors would at least be contactable. The Land Register is sort of working now so ought to be getting through the backlog of transactions like yours.